1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and, in particular, to a roll paper storage cassette for storing roll paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sublimation type recording apparatus using roll paper as a recording medium has come into wide use for business purpose and for household purpose as well.
The roll paper can be continuously supplied, so that the use of the roll paper is advantageous in that a paper feeding operation can be completed in a shorter time period than a rectangle-paper feeding operation in a continuous recording. For this reason, the use of the roll paper allows completing all recording in a shorter time period than that of the rectangle-paper if a large amount of recording is continuously performed.
In addition to the above advantage, the use of the roll paper is advantageous in that no margin is left on a recorded object, in other words, borderless recording can be easily performed. When a new roll paper is used, instead of replacing a whole roll paper storage case in which the roll paper is stored, a user prepares a roll paper, inserts a roll-paper shaft into the roll paper, puts the roll paper in the roll paper storage cassette, and loads the roll paper storage cassette onto a printer body. This allows a recording cost to be reduced.
In a conventional technique, a roll paper storage cassette includes a cassette body for storing roll paper, a cassette lid having a rotating roller for promoting the rotation of the roll paper, and an arm one of which is connected to the cassette body and the other of which is connected to the cassette lid via a connection unit as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-306511, for example.
The roll paper storage cassette is rotated with the connection unit as a center to cause the cassette lid to close the cassette body. The roll paper storage cassette into which the roll paper is stored is attached to and detached from the recording apparatus body.
The recording apparatus is desired to be able to use roll paper with a plurality of sizes from the standpoint of convenience. In a case where roll paper of a plurality of sizes can be used, it is desirable that the roll paper can be replaced before it runs short. However, once the roll paper is stored in the roll paper storage cassette, it is desirable not to open the roll paper storage cassette before the roll paper is used up.
More specifically, if a roll paper storage cassette corresponding to a type of roll paper is prepared, the roll paper can be stored without being dirtied, and the type of the roll paper can be detected without an error. The roll paper can be replaced only by replacing the cassette.
However, in a case where the recording apparatus can record on a plurality of roll papers of the different sizes, there are two problems.
A first problem is that a user has to inevitably prepare a plurality of roll paper storage cassettes corresponding to the types of roll paper if a dedicated roll paper storage cassette is prepared for each size of roll paper. Therefore, the recording cost is increased.
A second problem is that, in a case where the user inserts a roll-paper shaft into the roll paper and loads the roll paper onto the roll paper storage cassette intending to reduce a recording cost, the roll paper may be used with the combination being incompatible among the roll paper, roll-paper shaft, and the roll paper storage cassette. The use of the roll paper with the combination being incompatible among the roll paper, roll-paper shaft, and the roll paper storage cassette causes the disagreement of a recording range and a feed rate of the roll paper, producing protrusion and margin to degrade recording quality.